During my senior year in high school an opportunity to start a robotics team came up.
The team would participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition (for more info visit www.USFirst.org)
I took the position of team captain/leader since I was the most experienced with electronics and manufacturing.
Being team leader forced me to learn an entirely different set of skills for better communication and management
In a month and a half, we raised $18,400 thanks to our current sponsors at the time, NONIN medical, NASA, Wells Fargo and Bayers DoitBest hardware
We were able to make a competitive robot that placed within the top.
The robot was five feet tall and able to reach up almost twice its height.
The robot had tank drive, with powered wheels towards the rear, and casters in the front. This allowed the robot to maximize its agility when maneuvering and placing the game pieces on a three level spyder rack. The mechanism that grasped the game pieces was carefully designed so that forces would be applied exactly where we wanted them.
The grasper had a screw drive motor that allowed the motor to be shut off, and still hold the game piece.
I believe that what allowed us to make it so far our rookie year in the competition was the fact that we kept an incredibly simple design. What surprised me the most was how we were able to create such a machine and program it in under three months.
The team has made it very far ever since and could not be prouder of them. If you would like to check out their current status, go to www.swrobotics.com
